Chapter 4
Managing Diversity
(C) 2007 by Prentice Hall 4-1

1. Analyze the importance of employee diversity
2. Identify challenges in managing employee diversity
3. Explain diversity in organizations
4. Develop policies targeting diverse employee groups
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• Diversity – Human characteristics that make people different from one another. Example: ?
• Why manage employee diversity? Or what if we don’t manage?
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• Greater creativity: various good ideas from different people. E.g. organize a party
• Better problem solving: using team, brainstorming
• Greater system flexibility: more open to new ideas, greater tolerance of new things
• Better information. E.g. plan for a short trip
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Challenges in Managing Employee
Diversity
• Valuing Employee
Diversity (
 attacked from both sides)
• Individual vs. Group
Fairness
– Universal and
Cultural Relativity
Concept of
Management
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Challenges in Managing Employee
Diversity - continued
• Resistance to change
• Group cohesiveness and interpersonal conflict
• Segmented communication networks
• Backlash
• Retention
• Competition for opportunities

Treat employees as individuals, not members of a group
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• African Americans
• Asian Americans
• People with disabilities
• The foreign born
• Homosexuals
• Latinos (Hispanic Americans)
• Older workers
• Women
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Diversity in Organizations continued
• Women
– Biological constraints & social roles
– A male-dominated corporate culture: aggressive, verbal interactions, output (not process), not reveal info, task (not social) orientation, less sensitive
– Exclusionary networks: old boys’ network
– Sexual harassment
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Manager’s Notebook 4.3 –
Emerging Trends
• Women Are Moving into Fields Previously the Province of Men –
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Manager’s Notebook 4.3 –
Emerging Trends
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Improving the Management of
Diversity
• Top management commitment to valuing diversity -
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• Diversity Training Programs
• Support groups: to help diverse employees who feel isolated or alienated
• Accommodation of family needs
• Day care
• Alternate work patterns
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Improving the Management of
Diversity (cont.)
• Senior mentoring programs
• Apprenticeships
• Diversity audits: review the effectiveness of diversity management programs
• Management responsibility and accountability
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• To what extent should employers be responsible for the appropriate care of their employees’ children?
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• Avoiding the appearance of “white male bashing”
• Avoiding the promotion of stereotypes
– Cultural determinism – The idea that one can successfully infer an individual’s motivations, interests, values, and behavioral traits based on that individual’s group membership.
(C) 2007 by Prentice Hall 4-17

• What is diversity?
• Challenges in managing employee diversity
• Diversity in organizations
• Improving the management of diversity
• Some warnings
(C) 2007 by Prentice Hall 4-18